Rumor
TSMC plans CoPoS equipment installation for mid-2026 with mass production by 2028
Friday, December 5, 2025 at 02:34 PM
TSMC is planning to establish its first CoPoS (Chip on Power on Substrate) pilot line at VisEra in 2026, with mass production scheduled for the Chiayi AP7 fab by late 2028. Due to surging AI demand, TSMC is also allowing orders to spill over to OSAT providers like Amkor and ASE to manage capacity. Major international equipment firms including Lam Research, TEL, and KLA are competing for market share in the CoPoS supply chain alongside local Taiwanese firms like Scientech and GPTC.
Context
TSMC is transitioning from CoWoS to CoPoS (Chip on Panel on Substrate) to meet surging AI GPU demand from Nvidia. The foundry plans to establish a pilot line in 2026, with primary equipment installation at the Chiayi AP7 fab by mid-2026 and mass production starting late 2028. This move allows TSMC to offload mature CoWoS orders to OSATs like Amkor and ASE, focusing internal resources on advanced panel-level packaging that offers higher efficiency for large-scale AI chips.
The pivot is reshuffling the equipment supply chain as global leaders Applied Materials, Lam Research, KLA, and Tokyo Electron compete for dominance. This creates significant replacement risks for Taiwanese suppliers like Scientech, C Sun, and Gudeng if they fail to meet higher technical yields. As TSMC diversifies its vendor list to boost bargaining power, the high complexity of CoPoS will likely favor firms with superior R&D and cost-scaling capabilities.
Sources (2)
Related Companies
Nvidia
NVDA